WATER.

255

COMBINATION OF OXIGEN WITH COMBUSTIBLE BODIES.

THEORY

OF THE

DECOMPOSITION AND FORMATION

OF

WATER.

PART LXXII.

SECT. I.

THE physical properties of water are well known ; many ofthem have been examined already. The object of the presentpart is, to show that water is a compound of two simple bodies,namely, oxigen and hidrogen, and that it may be decomposedinto, and re-produced from them alternately.

DECOMPOSITION OF WATER BY CHEMICALAGENCIES.

Take a gun-barrel, the breech of which has been removed,and fill it with iron-wire, coiled up in a spiral form. To one endof the barrel adapt a small glass retort, partly filled with water;and to the other, a bent glass tube, the open end of which ter-minates under- the shelf of the pneumatic trough. Let the barrel